Re: Hamm Bug Stamp-Out List for June 25, 1998
Hi,
>>"Raul" == Raul Miller <rdm@test.legislate.com> writes:
Raul> Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@datasync.com> wrote:
>> Does this clarify the intent of the policy team better?
Raul> I'd prefer for the policy to spell out the problem it's addressing,
Raul> and why this alternative is better than the others.
Well, does Dwarf's latest do better than my rewrite?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every file in the system resides in one of the several "top level"
directories, which are subdirectories of the root directory '/'. Each of
these top level directories are a potential mount point, so links from a
file in one top level directory that point into another top level
directory should be absolute references, while links between locations
within a particular top level directory should be relative references.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The problem we are trying to solve is ecplained in this
example:
Suppose /usr and /var are is mounted under /mnt; but /lib is mounted
directly under /
__> ls -CF /mnt
./ var/
../ usr/
__> ls -CF /
./ usr -> mnt/usr
../ var -> mnt/var
lib etc
Now suppose you had a file in /usr that was a link to a file
in /etc
__> ls -als /usr/lib/sgml/catalog
/usr/lib/sgml/catalog -> ../../../etc/sgml.catalog
Well, if /usr were mounted under /, this relative link would
work. However, as it is mounted really under /mnt, and a symlink
exists in /, this relative link fails. An absolute link to
/etc/sgml.catalog would work fine.
This is a fairly commn case; automount, AFS, DFS, and in some
installations, even NFS (keeping NFS mounts under /mnt makes sense if
you are mounting a number of [nested] directories from several
servers).
There is a trade off, thoguh, since relative links make it
easier to move a whole tree around the file system. (Nobody is in
favour of abolishing relative links, are they?).
Can someone come up with a more consice explanation? I am
leaving for a 2 week trip next week, and am getting harried trying to
get things together for that.
manoj
--
"My head is bloodied, but unbowed." From the poem "Invictus"
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
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